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Trump – Stumped?

I am not stumping for any candidate but I feel it necessary to discuss some of the candidates and especially the phenomenal success of Donald J Trump which, in particular, has me very stumped.

The way I see it, there are 2 aspects of the presidency – one is doing the things necessary for the good of the country (being a good president) and the 2nd is looking presidential while doing those things.

I went to the Trump rally at ORU yesterday. I don’t go to rallies. I think the last one I went to was an airport stop by the Nixon/Agnew team in Lubbock, TX back in 1968. So once every 50 years or so is not so bad. But I went to this one in particular as I have a certain image of Trump (and Palin for that matter) from what I see on the news and I thought I would go to “see for myself”. My opinions did not change. But in all fairness to what may be the nominee, I will let you know my opinion (since you were all asking).

I see Trump like the smart privileged kid at school who didn’t have to develop the same social skills as the rest of us due to his popularity garnered from his being rich. That silver spoon scenario causes him to come across as bombastic, rude and flamboyant. Those are not characteristics I look for in someone being “presidential”. At the same time, I see someone who has surrounded himself with smart (you will so love all the winning smart people he has surrounded himself with) advisers and business people who have helped him be the tremendously successful person he has become. Yes, I am well aware that he has filed bankruptcy for restructuring purposes involving primarily his Atlantic City casinos which account for a small portion of his business ventures. The only good thing you can say about those Chapter 11 filings is that he saw the ‘hand writing on the wall” about Atlantic City quite some time before others which helped investors retain some of their investments and also enabled Trump to retain a controlling interest. Some will see only the negative in that and others will be able to see the silver lining. Personally, I have tried to see both sides.

I was somewhat surprised to learn that Trump has never smoked or drunk alcohol. He is well respected by those he works with and his employees. His kids are hard working and well respected in their community. His grade school education was at a military academy where he excelled.

I will say that I don’t think Trump is a liar. He proudly claims that in the past he made donations to various candidates in order to garner their favor in business deals. Who admits that? He does exaggerate and he needs a bigger vocabulary so he can “win, win, win” more effectively. I fully believe he would surround himself with the very best people to fill the various cabinet roles as his advisers and he certainly owes no one any favors for those appointments. I believe he would be a great deal maker in global affairs and wouldn’t be afraid to walk away from the table in order to get a better deal.

Having said all that, I personally hope that Trump is not the GOP nominee. I will certainly be conflicted at the voting booth. But if he is the nominee, I will ultimately have to cast a vote against Hillary or Sanders by what might best be described as holding my nose and voting for Trump.

I am actually hoping for a surge by Rubio in the polls. In my opinion, the perfect candidate does not exist, but would be a blending of Rubio, Carson, Bush and Christie. You might say “you left out Cruz”? Yes I did! And although I, again, don’t think it is very presidential for Trump to call him “nasty”, Cruz is in fact viewed as mean and not very liked by his fellow congressmen. In fact, in just the last couple of days, Bob Dole has warned that Cruz’s nomination would be catastrophic for the country.

I will end with the following 2 clips – one of Trump and one of Rubio. I do this as I wouldn’t be surprised to see that become the ticket. One clip shows how one candidate may flounder when it comes to religious things and the other touches my heart.

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4 thoughts on “Trump – Stumped?”

Trump displays so many of the 2 Tim 3:1-5 characteristics that I think anyone supporting him would be going against scripture. That being said, if he is the GOP nominee, I truly do not know what I will do.

I totally agree, but across from Hillary or Sanders – no vote for Trump is a vote for the other side. Like Sean Penn in All The Kings Men, “if you don’t vote, you don’t matter”. Although here in OK, I’m pretty sure if you didn’t vote this state would still go red.

You point out an unfortunate truth that applies to almost all the candidates on both sides. Perhaps only Carson has not received any Pinocchios from the press. My blog was not an endorsement of Trump but rather an awareness that he could be the GOP nominee. I will say that many of his lies/exaggerations can be classified as hyperbole.